Barry Windsor-Smith
Barry Windsor-Smith (born Barry Smith, 25 May 1949) is a British comic book illustrator and painter whose best-known work has been produced in the United States. He attained note working on Marvel Comics' Conan the Barbarian from 1970 to 1973, and for his work on the character Wolverine, particularly the 1991 "Weapon X" story arc. His other noted Marvel work included a 1984 "Thing" story in Marvel Fanfare, the "Lifedeath" and "Lifedeath II" stories with writer Chris Claremont that focused on the de-powered Storm in The Uncanny X-Men, as well as the 1984 Machine Man limited series with Herb Trimpe and Tom DeFalco.
Barry Windsor-Smith
Barry Smith
25 May 1949
Forest Gate, London, England
Writer, Artist
- Conan
- Red Sonja
- Machine Man
- Weapon X
- Solar
- Unity
- Archer & Armstrong
- Rune
- Barry Windsor-Smith: Storyteller
- Shazam Award, 1974
- Eisner Award Hall of Fame Inductee, 2008
- Eisner Award Best Graphic Novel, Monsters, 2022
- Eisner Award Letterer, Monsters, 2022
- Eisner Award Best Writer/Artist, Monsters, 2022
After leaving Marvel, Windsor-Smith became the creative director and lead artist at Valiant Comics, where he illustrated the company's revival of the 1960s Gold Key Comics character Solar, and created the original characters Archer and Armstrong. He was also the chief designer of the "Unity" crossover storyline. After leaving Valiant in 1993, Windsor-Smith did work through a number of publishers, including co-creating the vampiric character Rune with Chris Ulm, which was published as part of Malibu Comics' Ultraverse. Rune's adventures included a crossover with Conan that Windsor-Smith wrote and illustrated. He also provided art for the WildStorm Productions/Image Comics storyline "Wildstorm Rising", though he later came to regret that work. He subsequently created an oversized anthology series, Barry Windsor-Smith: Storyteller through Dark Horse Comics, though it was cancelled after nine issues.
Windsor-Smith released his subsequent work through Fantagraphics, including the Storyteller spin-off Adastra in Africa, which had originally been conceived as a "Lifedeath III" story for Storm; two volumes of the retrospective hardcover art book Opus; and Monsters, a 360-page hardcover published in 2021 that had originally been conceived in the mid-1980s as a Hulk story. In 2022, Barry Windsor-Smith won Eisner Awards for Best Graphic Novel, Best Letterer, and Best Writer/Artist for Monsters.
Early life[edit]
Barry Windsor-Smith was born Barry Smith on 25 May 1949 in Forest Gate, East End of London.[1][2] He displayed artistic abilities at an early age and practiced drawing by copying Wally Wood artwork in Mad magazine and the works of Leonardo da Vinci, with little regard for what was or wasn't considered fine art.[3] His parents supported him in following an arts education and he attended East Ham Technical College for three years, earning degrees in Industrial Design and Illustration.[1]
Artistic style[edit]
Windsor-Smith's work at Marvel during the 1960s was reminiscent of Jack Kirby, with characters making dynamic poses.[11] During his time on Conan the Barbarian, Windsor-Smith developed an art style preferring Romantic illustration over sequential storytelling that had influences from fine artists such as Howard Pyle and Andrew Wyeth. Windsor-Smith has been credited with introducing Romantic art to American comics, although he has said this wasn't an intentional decision so much as a way to bring something new to comic book art at the time.[3] He has also claimed to be an uncredited co-writer on the majority of his comics work.[11]